


How Can I Be Loyal

by The_Anwarrior



Series: Priorities [8]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Dang It PeeBee, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, I Forgot Most Tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 12:28:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20488889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Anwarrior/pseuds/The_Anwarrior
Summary: Sara and Vetra are none too happy with PeeBee’s spontaneity.





	How Can I Be Loyal

**Author's Note:**

> I blinked and nine months went by, sorry.
> 
> Is this fandom still alive? Wya?

The hands that continuously buried her face felt as if they were glued there. Sara’s impatience and frustration began to swell as Kallo circled the planet for the third time.

“Pathfinder, I’m still not getting a clear place to land.” Kallo shook his head at the vector and offered Sara a look that asked for directions.

“Pathfinder, could you see me for a moment?” Sara’s Omnitool lit up with a message from PeeBee asking for the Pathfinder’s attention.

Ryder grumbled and instructed Kallo to keep searching for a landing zone while she went off to check on PeeBee. She stepped through the doors of PeeBee’s chamber and locked eyes with the asari. “What?”

PeeBee’s expression was different from what Ryder was used to. Her face was telling of slight diffidence and hesitation. “Come in here for a second,” She eyed the Pathfinder and shifted her attention to the turian. “You too, V.”

Sara and Vetra ungracefully crawled through the opening to the escape pod and awaited PeeBee to say something. Ryder’s eyes stuck to the asari momentarily before impatiently bouncing around. “Well? What did you want?”

“Kallo isn’t going to find a safe place to land because there isn’t one.” PeeBee sat down and quickly looked to the confused expressions of her friends. After buckling in, she reached over to the wall and slammed a button without warning.

Vetra and the blonde shifted towards the closing door of the escape pod and both tumbled over once they were shot through space. The two were finally able to reach their feet and stumble into a seat and lock themselves in.

A momentary pause was all it took for Ryder to collect her thoughts. At first, she understood. She had felt that passion before, to need something so badly, you’d reach extreme limits just to have it. Then it hit her. “PeeBee, if there isn’t a safe place to land, how are we going to get back to the tempest?” Her voice was grated as her eyebrows fell inward.

The asari’s blank stare ignited more anger within Sara. She felt a dread reach her chest and a shade of red consume her thoughts. “_Please _ tell me you have a plan to make it back home.”

PeeBee felt the burrowing glower of Sara’s rage and Vetra’s worried panic both pointing at her. For a brief minute, PeeBee tried her damnedest to piece together a solution, though it was too late. Her thoughts were cut off by the pod and the ground clashing together in a tumble.

Suvi sensed something mysteriously wrong. She felt a gentle thud rumbling through the floor beneath her feet accompanied by a muffled booming sound. “What was that?” She faced the salarian on the other side of her.

Kallo was still too focused on the vector to notice something was off. It wasn’t until Suvi’s inquiry that something caught his eye. “Uh, Suvi…”

“Yes?” Her attention never left Kallo in the first place, though she stood to move her focus in the direction of Kallo’s line of sight. “Is that a-” The bleak awareness rose of her like dark covered night. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Sara was relentless on clearing her airway. She spat out cough after cough until she felt reasonably decent. After being able to breathe without nearly choking, she reached her feet in front of Vetra and PeeBee.

The two other women simply stood before the Pathfinder, awaiting her response. PeeBee was quite nervous considering Sara could say, or do anything. Vetra did nothing more than stand there and wait for the show to begin.

Ryder crumpled her mouth and nose. She pondered for a bit, remembering her temper, then decided she didn’t care. She was ready to yell, to say something or give a lengthy lecture, but her words seemed to dissolve. The blonde chuckled and ran her hands over her face, thinking of what to say next.

Taking note of Ryder’s reaction, Vetra knew it was going to be good. She thanked her lucky stars Ryder chose her to accompany them.

PeeBee did nothing but grow nervous. She knew Sara’s nature and her proclivity to act on it. “Are you okay, Ryder?”

The Pathfinder looked around to confirm her suspicions. The heat, the hues of black soot and glowing red, the floating ash, the thundering of running lava somewhere in the core beneath them. It was true, she knew it. “You’re going to tell me we’re not inside a volcano, or I’m going to hit you as hard as I can.”

The young asari saw a simple out and smiled. She could manage as much as a simple statement. “We’re not ins-”

“Without lying.”

PeeBee shuffled her eyes around nervously. “Well I- I can’t do both.” Her mannerisms were stiff while trying to explain herself.

Ryder savagely marched as close to PeeBee as Vetra would allow her. The turian quickly moved in to hold Sara back from acting on rage, as much as she wanted to watch. “Now, come on, Ryder. PeeBee’s just a small child. We wouldn’t want to conform to child abuse, now would we?”

The asari puckered a sour face. It smarted whenever someone commented on her juvenile behavior. She did her best to tuck it away and roll with the punches. “Ryder, I’m sorry! But this relic- it's gonna’ be worth it! I promise!”

The words twisted in Sara’s ears. She knew any promise that PeeBee made had always turned out to be empty. She had no expectations for that to change now. It didn’t matter. Ryder still couldn’t believe that not only were they inside a volcano, but they were stuck there. “Oh, it’s gonna’ be worth it, is it?” She paused to watch PeeBee confirm with a shy nod. “How is this relic going to get us home then?”

Vetra crossed her arms to set the scene. As much as she relished in the view of PeeBee being yelled at, she had to cut in to inquire. “What’s your rush all of a sudden?”

The blonde zeroed in on Vetra’s suspicion. “Rush? There’s no rush, V. The only rush there is around here is an adrenaline rush on how the hell we’re going to make it back home. How are you not concerned?”

The turian wasn’t buying it. It was too out of character for the Pathfinder to go full mental over something they all well know has a simple solution. 

PeeBee thought Sara’s behavior was odd as well. She could understand the frustration of delaying their arrival, or even tricking her friends into getting her way. Though Sara’s lack of tenacity had no explanation.

The trio had hiked a decent, rocky mile in all of thirty minutes with Ryder pouting the whole way. The rugged terrain and infernal heat had done nothing to help out Sara’s mood. The Pathfinder had marched several feet ahead of the other two, keeping her lips sealed throughout the entire journey.

“Wait, what’s that?” PeeBee initiated the first break in silence for the past half hour. The three women came to a stop and studied over a smaller shuttle. “I know that shuttle…”

Before anyone had time to process or ask questions, a message sought it’s way through Sara’s Omni-tool. “Well if it isn’t the Pathfinder and her trusty companions.”

The very voice of Kalinda provoked a bilious feeling in Ryder’s stomach. She felt her mouth dry up, her face turn red and tried her very best to remember Kalinda wasn’t totally against her. The only clear memory she had of Kalinda was the last time she had seen her; after she had just shot one of Kalinda’s smugglers for threatening her loved ones.

Ryder kept her thoughts at the front of her brain to be sure she didn’t cop out. Kalinda may have dirt on Sara, but Sara had just as much dirt on Kalinda as well. With Kalinda running an illegal smuggling business with exiles, Sara had any and all means to have her exiled, too.

It was too late to back out now, and Sara was too dominant to roll over and let Kalinda have what she wanted- which, of course, was anything PeeBee was interested in at the time. Both asari were locked and loaded and ready to fight over what Sara deemed to be no more than a hunk of metal with special powers. Ryder wasn’t certain what the remnant device was nor what it did, though it didn’t matter.

Every grain of Sara’s territorial side was proudly shining through. The relic was Peebee’s, no question. A fraction of Ryder was hoping they could get everything done the easy way, without the use of violence or having anyone harmed. On the other hand, Sara was feeling a particular itch in her trigger finger on account of inconveniently being stuck in the ass-end of a volcano.

The pathfinder swept her eyes over PeeBee to signal she was ready to respond, but PeeBee stopped her. “Wait,” The asari said.

Sara raised her brow at PeeBee’s reluctance. She knew Kalinda had some sort of weird place in PeeBee’s heart. She wasn’t exactly sure what they were to each other, but there was definitely some caring done on PeeBee’s end when it came to her ex. Sara tried her best to be understanding and waited for PeeBee to finish her complicated thought process.

“You have to be careful here, Ryder.” PeeBee warned.

Sara twisted her face. “I’m not gonna’ shoot her.”

“No,” The asari continued. “She knows that you killed someone in cold blood. One of her smugglers, no less. She might act all buddy-buddy with you, but Kalinda is one to hold grudges, and if she doesn’t get her way, she’ll act on them.”

“Relax, PeeBee. I can handle this. I have dirt on her, too, you know.” Sara dismissed PeeBee’s caution with no worries. She moved her arm closer to her mouth to finally respond, but PeeBee swatted her arm away.

“It doesn’t matter, Ryder. You need to be careful and play your cards tactfully.” PeeBee urged.

The blonde rolled her eyes and shot a longing glance to Vetra who silently stood behind with crossed arms. “Fine.” She sighed. 

Sara pulled up her Omni-tool and kept in mind to play along with Kalinda’s weird grudge match. “Fancy running into you here, Kalinda. Come here often?”

A smoky chuckle rang through Sara’s arm, causing Sara to grimace. “Only when a mysterious signal is begging to be investigated here. I’m assuming you’re here for the same reasons.”

Ryder straightened her face and looked to PeeBee, whose tension was thicker than the smoke that surrounded them. “Yeah, well… speaking of investigating weird signals, I’ve got Sherlock herself with me, and you and I both know there’s no stopping that curious mind from finding answers, so…”

A long pause of silence followed Sara’s statement. Her tongue traced over her teeth as she pondered to herself. She took it upon herself to be proactive and jump on any opportunity to get what she came for.

“So listen, Kalinda. We both want the remnant device- whatever it is. So let’s say we have PeeBee study over it and then you can see it for yourself and you two can just compare notes or whatever?” Sara’s face left traces of genuine trepidation as she looked to her two friends. 

PeeBee wrinkled her nose, Vetra shook her head, and Sara knew it was going to be a hard “no”, but at least she took a shot.

Sara’s wrist glowed orange with a reply. “Pathfinder Ryder, you play me for a fool.”

Sara couldn’t see Kalinda anywhere around, but she could hear the condescending smirk on Kalinda’s face. It turned her itchy trigger finger into more of an urge. Kalinda’s arrogance matched Sara’s ego, and Ryder was ready for a fight. 

Sara snarled a scoffed, making one last ditch effort. “Well Kalinda, what do you propose we do, then?” 

“I propose I take this beautiful remnant device for myself, and you go home empty handed with your lives intact.” The asari responded so quickly, Ryder barely stopped speaking in time for Kalinda to respond.

The blonde felt PeeBee’s worry staring right at her, expecting her to do something about it, and PeeBee was right.

“Or?” Sara asked. “I mean I could just arrest you here and have you tried for exile.” She threatened.

Kalinda let loose a hearty laugh. “Pathfinder, dear. You know you would never do that. If I go back to the nexus I might accidentally let slip that you outright murdered a man.”

Sara felt the heat reach her face as she listened to Kalinda’s words. 

“Besides,” The asari said. “You couldn’t arrest me without a fight anyhow. And I know you are all such special fighters, but you’re significantly outnumbered. I have a whole other shuttle full of men to help me procure this device. So let’s just drop the threats. You get to pick the easy way or the hard way.”

Vetra loathed the imperious tone in Kalinda’s voice as much as Sara did. PeeBee couldn’t even notice the arrogance, as she was blinded by their history as a couple.

The turian and pathfinder traded looks, understanding each other. “PeeBee, how badly do you want this remnant device? You have to decide if it’s worth fighting for. ‘Cause we’re all here and ready, but are you ready?” Vetra pointed her question right at the asari and paused still as stone.

The young asari ran her eyes over the rugged terrain and slightly nodded her head. “Kalinda has been nothing but a bully. I won’t submit to her failure of a threat. That remnant device is mine.”

Sara was still upset with PeeBee, though she was strangely proud of her for sticking up for herself and claiming what was hers. Ryder found the small spark of excitement in the promise of a fight. She hated being stuck inside a volcano, at least she had something that she can focus her anger on.

The trio ran full-speed ahead, trying to beat their opponent to the punch. They ended up reaching a cave-like structure, but it was man-made. The silence thickened to the point of suspicion. The only noise was the rumbling of lava beneath them. They swept their eyes over the walls, high and low. They looked over the floor, around the stalagmites, the ceiling and nothing was around but the heat.

“Now!” The three women jumped behind any kind of cover they could find at the call of war.

Ryder rolled her eyes to the ceiling, her sniper held taut in her hands. Only Kalinda was dumb enough to call a warstrike outloud. 

Bullets zoomed through the air missing each and every target by far. Vetra even felt slightly embarrassed for them. “Thank the goddess she’s a smuggler and not a fighter,” She chuckled.

Ryder and Vetra completed each checkpoint by popping bullets in every mark. PeeBee was left conflicted, though still pulling her own weight.

Sara watched as Vetra slid down the visor on her helmet to cover her eyes, and Sara knew she was about to witness something impressive. The turian tossed a grenade to a cluster of three of Kalinda’s men. She tracked the explosive with her eyes as if it were floating in slow motion. Right before the grenade could hit the ground, Vetra stood straight up from behind her cover, and shot the grenade with one single bullet, wiping out a chunk of enemies. 

Sara furrowed her eyebrows and silently mouthed some curious curses.

Vetra saw Sara’s enlightenment and acknowledged her. “I hate her, Ryder. And now she’s trying to take away the baby’s toy!”

“I heard that!” PeeBee shouted over the gunfire from her own pistol.

Sara mounted her sniper on the top of the flattest rock she could duck behind. She closed her left eye and aimed down her sights. She played with the trigger, watching a particular target with a grenade in his hand. Sara capped the grenade while still in the man’s hand and watched it explode through her scope. She tossed a smirk to an amused Vetra. “I hate her, too.”

The women sped forward, putting a real briskness in their step. They worked as a team to cut down any man clueless enough to step forward to oppose them. Eventually, PeeBee noticed a lone figure running ahead and knew exactly what was going on. PeeBee didn’t utter a word or heave a warning, she followed impulse and chased after the figure chasing after her relic.

It threw Sara and Vetra for a loop to have their third run away without any kind of heads-up. While the enemy team was no match for the ground team, Kalinda was telling the truth when she said they were outnumbered. It made Sara nervous to have PeeBee running through a storm of gunfire. She tried her damndest to keep PeeBee covered, but her sniper only shot so fast and Vetra only had so many rounds of ammunition.

Ryder reverted back to her biotics, which were dubbed by many teammates as dangerous, but desperate times call for desperate measures. “Go get her,” Sara grumbled while holding up her hero complex quite nicely. 

Vetra didn’t dally, she did what she was told and chased after the asari. Sara threw many lances and projectiles in every which direction. Her gun was still pulling all the work for her, she felt like she was on fire. Skills like this is why she was able to keep her role as Pathfinder, it’s why so many believed in her. It kept her and her loved ones alive.

Ryder was able to tear through most of Kalinda’s men and make a break for a path in their direction. Vetra was on PeeBee’s tail, following right behind kalinda. Ryder quickly put behind plenty of distance as she journeyed after them.

PeeBee reached Kalinda and threw all of her weight into her. The device was only a few short feet away and it was time to use all tactics she could conjure. She would no longer be a pawn in Kalinda’s grudge match. The age of Kalinda was coming to an end, PeeBee would see to it. After succeeding in knocking Kalinda to the ground, PeeBee scrambled to her feet to reach the remnant device such a short distance away.

The lava in the ground began to pump the slightest bit faster, causing a portion of the ground to sink inward. The ground introduced a large portion of lava beginning to fill up around them. The remnant device automatically reacted to the shift in the core and began to roll towards the lava, as did kalinda who was still struggling to reach her feet.

“Pelessaria!” Kalinda flashed the most hopeless of looks to someone who she used to be so familiar with. She had hoped the morality of PeeBee was still intact and that their history would be enough to save her. “Please, you have to help me! Pelessaria!” Kalinda was barely hanging on to the edge of the surface. She could feel the heat of the lava beneath her creep up her legs.

PeeBee hesitated for what seemed like hours. She watched the remnant device roll away, slowly crawling closer to the lava. 

The booming of the volcano around them was enough to put Ryder on full alert. Stray rocks from the ceiling began to tumble down and clash with the ground, the thundering of lava grew much louder, and the ground began to quake considerably. “Uhh,” Ryder mumbled with a hitch of anxiety in her voice. Her eyes bounced around the walls of the cave and ran up to Vetra. “Uh, Hey! We gotta’ get out of here!” She shouted. “Like now!”

Sara wasn’t too sure how they would get off the planet, but her main concern was escaping the cave before a rock would fall on them all over some silly chunk of machinery. Besides, Sara would bet all her credits Vetra would know how to hotwire Kalinda’s shuttle if they made it out of the cave alive.

Vetra and the pathfinder high-tailed it over to PeeBee who looked as if she was about to nose dive straight into the lava.

PeeBee slid on her stomach just in time to catch Kalinda’s hand before leaving her for dead. The remnant device rolled right past PeeBee’s face and into the lava as she was pulling up the very bane of her existence. She couldn’t help herself. PeeBee could only think of how they used to take very long lunches on the Citadel to skip work, just to spend time with each other and how hard it was to get back to work after they spent two hours just to eat and chat with each other. If she had let Kalinda die, what would those memories be worth? They still meant something to her. Kalinda still meant something.

The young asari knew her friends wouldn’t celebrate over her decision in the slightest, but she simply couldn’t let go of the past- of who Kalinda used to be. 

Ryder, Vetra, and the two asari tucked tail and raced for the exit and straight to Kalinda’s two shuttles. After a lingering goodbye hug and a spewing of thanks, Kalinda hopped in one shuttle, and the other three in the other and parted ways.

The first couple of minutes of the shuttle ride were spent in complete placidness. Not a word was spoken until Vetra was worked up enough to break the quiet. “I can’t believe you chose Kalinda over the remnant thing.”

“If you’re looking for an apology for saving her, you won’t get one.” She crossed her arms and faced away from the turian. She stared out of the the window. She couldn’t admit it, but she was slightly upset with her own self. Sure, she saved a life, her ex nonetheless, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it was the right thing to do. Kalinda had caused so much turmoil, it might have been for the better to just let her go, but PeeBee couldn’t find it within herself.

“No,” Sara said. “You shouldn’t apologize for that anyways. I would seriously question your humanity had you chose a piece of junk over an actual life. As much as I can’t stand her, you did the right thing.” Sara clarified and stated in a small way that she was proud.

“It’s not junk,” PeeBee said. “But whatever.”

Vetra noticed Sara check her watch for the thirtieth time within the last hour. “So what’s with you, Ryder? What was the rush?” Vetra poked at Sara’s business relentlessly, but tactfully enough to where Sara barely noticed.

“There’s no rush, I said that before.” The blonde blankly shared.

“Oh please,” PeeBee scoffed. “You were we’re big mad when you found out we couldn’t get home, and it feels like you’re paying more attention to that watch than you do Suvi.

Ryder faltered for a moment before deciding to cave. “I had a doctor’s appointment.”

Vetra and PeeBee exchanged googly eyes to one another before PeeBee spoke up. “Lexi? Ugh, I think she’ll understand. You see her every five minutes anyways.”

“No,” Sara stumbled over her words before picking back up. “It wasn’t with Lexi.”

“Oh by the goddess,” PeeBee laughed in tune with Vetra’s chuckle. “Lexi would absolutely lose her shit if she knew you were going to another doctor.” 

Ryder sighed once more. “It’s- she… Lexi knows, okay? Can we drop it?”

Vetra wrinkled her brow and stared Ryder down. “Lexi is totally fine with you seeing another doctor? Is it Harry? Are you sick?” 

The three sat in silence for a considerable amount of seconds before Ryder found the gall to answer honestly. “I had an appointment with Jill, fuck’s sake. Forget privacy, am I right?” 

The two passengers flung confused faces all over the shuttle and paused in wonderment. “Who is Jill?” PeeBee muttered to the turian

“Isn’t that Gil’s roommate?” Vetra speculated. “She’s the uh- Oh shoot, what does she do?”

Ryder kept a blank stare on the path ahead of her while listening to the confusion of her teammates. 

“Oh!” PeeBee squeaked. “Fertility specialist, right? She’s a fertility specialist… right?”

Vetra snapped her fingers and pointed to PeeBee. “That’s it. Thank you, I had forgotten.”

The two sank back into the quiet that Ryder was so thankful for- or so she thought.

“So, wait,” Vetra spoke back up. “Why would you need to see a fertility specialist?”

Sara shot the quickest of glances over to the turian, signaling something the two women were trying to pick up on.

“Oh- oh by the goddess, Sara.” PeeBee brought her hands up to cradle her cheeks. “Are you pregnant with Reyes’ lovechild?”

“_What?_” Vetra exclaimed.

“What? No! What? God, you’re dense.” Sara grouched.

“Oh wow…” Vetra said. It started to click. “You and Suvi? Are you two trying?” 

The blonde continued to steer the shuttle with little expression. “Yes,” She muttered. “Suvi and I- well, we want to try.”

Twenty seconds of silence swam around the shuttle as the other two women grew familiar with the idea.

“Oh! Aw! Little nerdy, action babies!” PeeBee squealed.

“Let’s hope they take after Suvi, yeah?” Vetra joke with a chuckle.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Sara smiled right back into the banter. “Here’s to hoping baby Ryder wants to study rocks instead of get shot at.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
